


Lover's Spat

by CoreyWW, Swordtheguy



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Arguing, Drama, Dramedy, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Fights, Implied Relationships, Lies, Meddling, Romantic Friendship, Secrets, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9475631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoreyWW/pseuds/CoreyWW, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swordtheguy/pseuds/Swordtheguy
Summary: Even though it had only been two short years, Connie and Steven had grown so close they seemed inseparable.But sometimes, secrets are kept, feelings are hurt, and even those who seem inseparable can end up fighting.





	

“Hm ... let’s see ...” Pearl said as she stood in the sky ruins, looking through the Pearl Prize Pouch. Steven, Amethyst, and Connie would be there for training any moment, so she had little time. “I hope these are enough prizes.”

Pearl had recently made the effort to insert prizes that Connie and Amethyst would enjoy in addition to  the dollar-store toys she obtained for Steven. Amethyst’s prizes were easy enough to think of: energy drinks, some random antiques (Amethyst _loved_ old garbage), DVDs of bad sitcoms from 80s, et cetera. Amethyst wasn’t hard to shop for.

Connie, however, was proving a bit more difficult, but Pearl tried her best for her student. She took another look at everything she had gotten for Connie: a whetstone, a pocket copy of _the Art of War_ (Rose had thought of a lot of Sun Tzu’s ideas first but Pearl didn’t hold that against him ... anymore), some scrolls Pearl had “borrowed” from the Library of Alexandria (she’d felt humans couldn’t be trusted with those particular ones and history proved her right), and so on.

But Pearl felt guilty there were no “toy” options for Connie either so she added one other prize at the last minute: a handmade miniature plush of Stevonnie. Greg was nice enough to commission it from Vidalia and she had done an admirable job based on Greg’s description. Pearl smiled as she saw the plush in the pouch. As decent as the other prizes were, she felt like that would be the one Connie would gravitate towards.

After all, she and Steven made an adorable pair.

Pearl looked up from her pouch, the soft sound of the wind being the only noise around. She was alone on the floating arena. And all at once, that felt very strange. Everyone  should have been here by now. They were always punctual and on time. So then why weren’t they here? Pearl pursed her lips, waiting a few more minutes before she began to walk back towards the warp pad.

_If something's happened… No, nothing's happened. But if it has…_

Pearl did her best to put such thoughts out of her mind. She stepped onto the warp pad. She closed her eyes as it activated with a hum, feeling her physical form desolve in the glowing light.

_They’re fine. Amethyst is probably just holding them up._

She felt the warp pad appear back underneath her feet. Before the warp stream had even fully disappeared, Pearl was moving forward into the beach house.

What she saw wasn’t what she expected, to say the least.

Steven was sitting on the couch, his arms wrapped around his knees. His eyes were firmly placed on the floor and his cheeks were bright red. He was clearly upset, though over what Pearl had no idea.

She took another step into the house and now saw Amethyst sitting at the kitchen island, her eyes similarly downcast. Unlike Steven, she looked up at Pearl’s approach, but didn’t say anything.

Pearl opened her mouth, but for a moment no noise came out.

_What happened?_

“Steven?” she asked. “Are you alright?”

Steven shrugged, saying nothing.

Pearl paused for a beat before continuing.

“Where’s Connie? Has she been over yet?”

The question broke the mask Steven had been wearing. He shut his eyes and turned away from Pearl.

“Y-yeah. She-” Steven sniffed and rubbed his nose as he rose from his seat. “Sor-sorry, Pearl. I-” He began to quickly walk towards the door. “I- I’m kind of-- I need to go.”

Before Pearl could ask anymore questions, he was already gone.

“Uhh…” After a moment, Pearl turned her attention to Amethyst. “Amethyst?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

Amethyst slid off her seat and slowly walked over to Pearl.

“Yeah, uh …” She rubbed the back of her neck, avoiding Pearl’s gaze. “This … is kinda my fault.”

“Your fault?” Pearl asked. “How is this your fault? What happened?”

Amethyst sighed.

“Okay, so, it happened like this ...”

* * *

* * *

“Let’s see ...” Amethyst said while she stood on the counter, digging through the kitchen cabinets. She yelled out. “Hey Steven, do we have anymore of that hand sanitizer?! I was gonna put that on some crackers or something!”

“Umm ...” Steven said, holding a glass as he pulled the orange juice from the refrigerator. “No, I think I used it all.”

“Aww ... welp, so much for eating healthier,” Amethyst said. “Guess I’ll have some of those cookies then.”

“Oooh, that sounds good,” Steven said. He poured a glass of orange juice and left it on the counter. “There. Now Connie will have a nice drink waiting for her when she gets here.”

Amethyst smirked as she continued to look for the cookies.

“You’re a dork,” Amethyst said, in a good-natured tone.

“There’s nothing dorky about being a good friend,” Steven said.

Amethyst chuckled.

“Riiiiight. Juuuust a friend,’” Amethyst said.

Steven looked up, raising his eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steven said.

“Oh nothing,” Amethyst said. She allowed silence to fill the air for just a second before she started singing, “Steven and Connie, sittin’ in a tree-”

Steven groaned.

“Not again,” he muttered.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“I mean, really? You’re like hundreds of years old, aren’t you a little old for--”

“FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE, THEN COMES STEVONNIE IN A BABY CARRIAGE!”

Amethyst glanced down and couldn’t help but smile at the bright red blush on his cheeks.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Steven managed to stammer out.

“Like I said, dork,” Amethyst said. She moved some items in the cabinet and finally saw the package of cookies. “Yeeeesss, here we go.”

Amethyst pulled the package out and hopped off the table. She glanced at Steven, who had his arms folded in silence. Amethyst rolled her eyes.

“Come on, don’t sulk about it, I’m only teasing,” Amethyst said.

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Steven mumbled.

Amethyst grinned.

“Would a cookie help?” Amethyst said, shaking the package.

Steven stared at Amethyst for a second, before a smile crept on his face.

“It might ...” Steven said.

Amethyst pulled the package open. “Alright, Steven, you can have the first--”

Amethyst stopped only to realize that, aside from some loose crumbs, there was only one cookie left.

Amethyst and Steven both stared at the cookie. Amethyst’s eyes darted over to Steven and she sighed.

“Here, you can have it,” Amethyst said, holding out the package to him.

Steven shook his head.

“No, no, you have it,” Steven said. “You wanted them in the first place.”

“Yeah, but I told you you could have the first one.”

“No, that’s just-- I want you to have it.”

“Steven, I don’t actually need to eat!” said Amethyst, raising her voice.

“But you like to!” Steven yelled in return.

“So?”

“No really, it’s fine,” Steven said. “I--I’m not even hungry for cookies!”

“That’s a lie. _Nobody is ever not hungry for cookies!”_

“OF COURSE IT’S A LIE, BUT I’M NOT A JERK! JUST EAT IT!”

“NO!”

Amethyst and Steven stared at eachother for a moment, before Amethyst pulled the cookie out and tried to push it towards Steven’s mouth.

“Go on!” Amethyst said.

“No!” Steven turned his head away.

Amethyst shrugged and pulled the cookie away.

“Okay, fine,” Amethyst said.

Steven raised his eyebrow and, just as he let his guard down, Amethyst lightly tackled him to the ground, pushing the cookie to his face.

“BETRAYAL!” Steven said, as he tried to wriggle underneath her.

“THE PUMA DOESN’T PLAY FAIR, STEVEN!” Amethyst yelled. “TAP OUT AND EAT THE COOKIE!”

“NEVER!” Steven yelled back, but he was laughing. “REF, RING THE BELL!”

“IT’S NO DQ! THERE’S NO BELL TO RING!”

They both laughed  at how ridiculous it all was, almost forgetting the cookie entirely..

Amethyst doubled over in laughter, barely feeling the warmth of their Gems glowing ...

* * *

Because they were laughing, it was almost a full minute before Smoky realized they were back in existence.

They opened their eyes, looked at the floor, realizing Amethyst and Steven weren’t there because Smoky WAS them.

“Whoa ...” Smoky said.

They looked to their hand and realized they were still holding the cookie in one of their three hands.

“... oh well,” Smoky said, shoving the cookie in their mouth. “Mmm ... delicious,” they said with their mouth still full.

But just as they said that, they heard the front door swing open.

They looked to see Connie entering, duffel bag swung over her shoulder.

“Hey Steven!” Connie said. “You ready to start training with--”

Connie froze as she noticed Smoky, letting the duffle bag slide off her arm to the floor.

Smoky stopped chewing.

Connie’s eyes were wide. Connie didn’t recognize them. How could she? She’d never even been told Smoky existed.

“Who- who are--” Connie stammered.

“Connie!” Smoky said, more in Steven’s voice than their own. “I--”

Before Smoky could even finish, they felt Steven’s heart beating so fast that they started to become undone ...

* * *

“Steven!” Connie said.

Amethyst picked herself from the floor, spitting out cookie crumbs. She saw Connie rush over to Steven, who was on the floor next to her.

“Connie, I--” Steven coughed.

“It’s okay, hang on,” Connie said. She helped Steven to his feet.

Connie’s eyes darted between both of them. Amethyst could already see the wheels turning in her head.

“You two fused?” Connie said, astonished.

“Y-yeah,” Steven said. “That was Smoky.” Steven gave Amethyst the briefest of looks before asking Connie. “W-what did you think?”

Connie blinked.

“What did I think?” Connie said. She hesitated before she chuckled. . “I-I thought that was cool! You can fuse with other Gems! That’s amazing!”

Steven’s cheeks blushed. Steven wouldn’t say it, but Amethyst knew as soon as Connie walked in, he had gotten anxious about what she would think of Smoky. Amethyst smiled, glad that she had reacted as well as Steven hoped.

Connie put her hand to her forehead.

“I mean, how did you even figure out how to do that?” Connie asked.

“Oooh, you’ll love this!” Amethyst said, excited. “See, when we were fighting Jasper, we--”

Connie’s smile fell immediately.

“Wait ... Jasper?” Connie said, confused. “Jasper’s back.”

“No no, this is back when we WERE fighting Jasper before,” Amethyst said. “So I was--”

“Wait, wait, hold on!” Connie said, putting her hand up. Her tone had an edge to it. She turned to Steven. “You fused with Amethyst when you were fighting Jasper?! _Months ago?!_ ”

Steven stared at Connie, the color draining from his face.

“Uhhh ...” he said, before trailing off.

“And you didn’t tell me?!” Connie said, raising her voice.

“UHHH ...”

Amethyst frowned and cursed herself right away. She could already tell this was bad. And it was all because Amethyst couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

She had to do something.

“Hey, Connie, he--” Amethyst said, but Connie continued speaking before Amethyst could finish.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Connie said, a twinge of hurt in her voice even as she glared at Steven. “Why keep it a secret?”

“Well, no, I didn’t-- I wasn’t keeping it a secret,” Steven said stammering. “I just--” He scratched the back of his head. “It seemed kind of hard to talk about.”

“Why?”

“I--” Steven glanced over at Amethyst. Amethyst was pretty sure she already knew the reason why; considering they only fused as Smoky as a result of Amethyst and Steven feeling insecure and hating themselves, Steven didn’t want to throw Amethyst’s feelings out in the open like that, even with Connie.

Steven shook his head.

“It’s complicated,” he said.

“Complicated?!” Connie said. “I didn’t think we kept secrets from each other anymore.”

“This wasn’t a secret!” Steven said. To Amethyst’s surprise, Steven was raising his voice too. “I just-- I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal!”

“Not a big deal?!” Connie shouted. “What’s more of a big deal than fusion for us, Steven?! Does that just not matter?!”

“Um, guys?” Amethyst tried to interject. “Maybe we should just all calm dow-”

“Of course it matters!” Steven replied, his voice cracking. “But this was different!”

Connie’s fist clenched. Her eyes were like fire.

“Oh, so Stevonnie just doesn’t matter to you anymore, I guess,” she spat out.

Steven gritted his teeth.

“I never said that! _How could you think I’d even say that about Stevonnie?!_ ” Steven yelled.

“Steven, you should--” Amethyst started, but Connie cut her off.

“Well you CERTAINLY are acting like my feelings don’t matter,” Connie said.

“Me?!” Steven stammered in anger. Amethyst couldn’t remember a time when Steven looked so offended. “I’m not the one making a big deal about this! I thought you said you were happy I fused with a Gem and now suddenly you’re not?! Why are you acting jealous?”

“JEALOUS?! Is that what you think this is about?!”

“I--” Steven shook his head. “Well, it sure _sounds_ like it!”

Connie and Steven stared at each other, each with a scowl on their face. Connie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was disturbingly calm.

“Okay ...” Connie said. She picked her duffel bag off the floor and walked towards the door.

Steven blinked, snapping out of his anger. For the first time in minutes, he sounded like his normal self.

“H-hey, where are you going?” Steven asked.

“Well, Steven,” Connie said in an icy tone. “If I’m so ‘jealous’, maybe it’d be best if we just weren’t around each other for a while. Sorry if my feelings were an inconvenience to you.”

“Wait, Connie, don’t go! I didn’t mean it! We can--”

The screen door slammed as Connie walked out.

Steven stared at the screen door after Connie left, more in shock than anything else.

Amethyst rubbed her shoulder, searching for the right thing, anything to say.

“Um ... Steven?” Amethyst said. “You uh ... you okay, buddy?”

But Steven didn’t say anything.

* * *

* * *

Pearl pursed her lips as Amethyst finished her story.

“So…” Pearl began, but then trailed off, unsure what to say.

Steven and Connie exploding at each other like this… If Pearl hadn’t seen Steven upset herself, she might not have believed Amethyst at all.

“Yeah…” Amethyst said, looking away. “It’s, uh, kind of a mess.” She sighed. “And, like I said… It’s my fault.”

Pearl nodded, before catching herself.

“What? No, it’s not Amethyst,” Pearl said.

“Uh, if I hadn’t fused with Steven, none of this would have happened.”

“From what you said, you didn’t mean to fuse.”

“Well… no.”

“And besides,” Pearl continued. “Even if you did mean to fuse, it still wouldn’t be your fault. Connie was upset about Smoky Quartz.”

“Yeah, she was,” Amethyst said. “She _really_ didn’t like that Steven didn’t tell her about them.”

“Yes, she didn’t,” Pearl answered. “I suppose I can understand, but still. This seems a little strange for Connie. Hmm…” She tapped her lower lip. “What should we do?”

“Maaaybe we should ask Garnet what to do?” Amethyst asked. “I mean she always helps when _we’re_ arguing.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Pearl responded. “We’re smart and capable Gems. I think we can handle this.”

“Alright. Then what should we do?”

“Hmm…” Pearl said hummed, tapping her lower lip.

Pearl began wracking her mind, trying to think of a solution. She leaned against the kitchen island, still lost in thought.

Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed and neither of them had said anything. Amethyst sat on the floor and yawned, her eyes beginning to glaze over.

Finally Amethyst broke the silence.

“Hey, P. I got an idea,” Amethyst asked in a bored voice. “Why don’t we ask Garnet?”

Pearl grimaced briefly, before nodding. “Right. Yes. Good idea, Amethyst.” She began walking towards the door. “I believe I know where she is.”

“Alright,” Amethyst said, getting up from her seat and following after Pearl. “Let’s go fix Steven and Connie’s relationship. How hard could that be?”

Amethyst left through the door and Pearl began to follow her, only to remember that she was still wearing the prize pouch. She undid the pouch’s buckle and laid it on the kitchen island. But not before noticing something was sticking out of it.

Pearl unzipped the pouch and saw that it was the hand of the Stevonnie doll. Pearl looked at it sadly.

She hoped when this was over, she would get to see Stevonnie again.

“Wait up, Amethyst!” Pearl called as she set the doll down and rushed out the door.


End file.
